Wernold Smythe
Wernold Smythe is a staff member of the Parts and Equipment Department at the International Race School. History Early History Having proven that he had the necessary understanding of the mechanical engineering involved in Hover Cars, Wernold Smythe got a job at the International Race School in the Parts and Equipment Department. After Ariel Piper was admitted to the Race School despite some opposition to the idea simply because she was a girl, Principal Jean-Pierre LeClerq conspired to make her time at the Race School as tough as possible in order to make her quit or unable to remain enrolled, and recruited Smythe to provide her with faulty equipment (whether or not it was because Smythe shared LeClerq's views on female racers is unknown). Hover Car Racer Before the School's season of racing began, Smythe provided Ariel with some improperly-charged magneto drives and a bad batch of thinned coolant, and to make it appear as though it were a part of a larger problem he also made sure a few other racers received similarly faulty parts. Shortly before Race 1, Smythe sent a computer virus to the Pied Piper, which would go off during the race to remove Ariel's control of her car. Though Ariel nearly crashed and lost the Piper, she was saved thanks to Jason Chaser's intervention. Over the course of the next several races, Smythe continued to distribute faulty parts, and brushed off complaints from Varishna Krishna and Jason's mech chief Sally McDuff about the problem. Around the same time, Xavier Xonora's mech chief Oliver Koch approached Smythe and offered to pay him to map the abandoned Dunalley coalmine which was sometimes used as a shortcut option during races. Smythe agreed, and went out for several weeks to the mine to map the correct path through the shortcut. When Jason and his team decided to pay the Parts and Equipment Department another visit to complain, they spotted Koch leaving just after giving Smythe another payment. As Smythe once again brushed off Jason and Sally's concerns, the Bug noted the wads of money Smythe had left visible from his pocket. When Jason requested that Smythe allow Sally to view his checks when they next claimed their parts, Smythe was annoyed by the accusation that he was deliberately sabotaging racers, telling them to get a note from one of his superiors to allow the observation before demanding they let him get back to work. As they left the Department, the Bug revealed the money he had seen in Smythe's pocket, leading Team Argonaut to consider the possibility that Koch was paying him to give them faulty parts, but knew they could not report it without more evidence. The night before Race 25, Smythe made one last venture out to the Dunalley coalmine to finish mapping the shortcut maze, but as he was returning home, Smythe's hover motorbike cut out due to the limestone powder in the engine. As Smythe was finishing cleaning out the powder, Henry Chaser pulled over to offer him help, but Smythe assured him he was done. As Smythe pulled his helmet back on, Jason, watching from in his father's car, recognised Smythe. During the 14th to 17th laps of Race 25, Smythe approached Koch in the Speed Razor's pit bay, and gave the mech chief instructions on how to navigate the shortcut mine. When Jason saw Smythe as the Argonaut was undergoing its own pit-stop, Jason realised what Smythe had actually been paid by Koch to do, and so pursued Xavier through the mine which eventually helped him win the race. After an incident at the Sponsors' Tournament where Barnaby Becker's navigator/mech chief Guido Moralez was caught draining the power of Team Argonaut's magneto drives, Smythe found it more difficult to provide anyone with faulty parts, and so installed more viruses on Ariel's pit bay machine, which eventually began to slow her rise on the championship ladder. Early on the morning of Race 50, Smythe met LeClerq in the darkness of the schoolgrounds. LeClerq congratulated Smythe on slowing Ariel's progress, but that she still had a chance of finishing in the top four and going to race in New York, which he did not want. Despite the firewall that had been placed in Ariel's pit machine recently, Smythe was certain that he could make a new virus that would bring down her machine, and LeClerq ordered him to make it happen. However, their conversation was overheard by Jason, who warned Ariel about the impending attack lead her and her mech chief to install a new firewall. Unaware of this, Smythe sent the virus to attack the pit machine, however it was blocked and instead attacked the school's power grid, resulting in a power cut that forced a manual pit stop from the remaining racers. After the race, investigations into the power cut revealed the virus and its origin from Smythe's computer. When he was confronted by Stanislaus Calder, Smythe quickly confessed and revealed LeClerq's plot to end Ariel's racing career. Presumably Smythe was fired from the Race School like LeClerq for his actions. Personality . Trivia . Category:Characters Category:Australian Characters Category:Hover Car Racer Category:Hover Car Racer Characters Category:Antagonists Category:International Race School Staff